I’ve never been a huge fan of orange… or really warm colors in general. I’m a blue/gray kind of girl, and I’ve loved the trend these past few years to branch out in your fall and Christmas decor, to incorporate the colors you love.

While I did try to go a little cozier this year (last year was light and neutral with touches of blue which you can see here), I’m still enjoying leaning more neutral, and the texture of these velvet pumpkins are perfect for that.

And, as a bonus, they were so quick and easy to make.

Seriously, I made 2 in 15 minutes. It took longer to gather all the supplies! Speaking of supplies, here is what you need: fabric, scissors, dried beans, polyester filling, needle and thread, hot glue gun, corks (or sticks), and twine.

And here’s how to make your own:

Cut fabric into circles (any size!)

Sew a VERY loose stitch all the way around the edge of the circle

Cinch the stitch until the fabric forms a little bag, but do not tie it off yet

Stuff the pumpkin with a combination of dried beans (for weight) and polyester filling

Tighten the thread as much as you can and tie it off

Optional: If your pumpkin seems too round, and you’d like a little more control over its shape, poke your needle down through the pumpkin and tie it off at the bottom to create a pinch more reminiscent of a real pumpkin (the picture below shows the bottom of the pumpkin, in case you can’t tell)

Reexamine shape and add more filler if needed

Hot glue the cork into the top of the pumpkin

Attach twine around the bottom of the cork with hot glue

I’ve also seen gorgeous ones made with real pumpkin stems… which is on my list to do for next year (I’m planning to save my stems this year for sure!). In the meantime, I love the look of the cork and twine. I even let the thick jute unravel some to imitate tendrils…

And, before someone calls me on it, I realize that my fabric may not be, strictly speaking, velvet. It’s kind of a more muted version… but it’s the color I wanted, and its matte finish is actually rather lovely in person.

So there you have it: neutral, easy, cozy, and fall-y (and yes, I just made up that word. I was an English teacher in a former life – it’s allowed. 😉 ) Be sure to come back on Monday to see the full fall house tour!

Comments

Rachel, these look great, I absolutely love that grey! I never thought of using corks for mine, what a great idea
🙂 I hoard pumpkin stems every year so I can make my velvet pumpkins…I’ve got my Mom hooked on making them too so I just mailed her a package of stems yesterday!

I have an obsession with gray too. Love your velvet pumpkins. I would love for you to come and link this up to my Fall into Fall party that opens Tuesday evenings at 8pm EST. Hope to see you there. http://diybydesign.blogspot.com